Big ‘ER’ powers NBC’s Thursday

Morning Ratings Flash - Rick Kissell

NBC prevailed easily among young adults on the final Thursday of the November sweep behind the highest-rated episode of “ER” in nearly a year, according to preliminary nationals from Nielsen. CBS remained on top in total viewers.

From 10 to 11, “ER” (11.4/29 in adults 18-49, 23.5 million viewers overall) dominated its hour over CBS’ drama rival “Without a Trace” (5.1/13 in 18-49, 15.8 million viewers overall), delivering the best 18-49 score for any program in eight weeks. NBC also led in 18-49 with “Friends” at 8 (9.4/26 in adults 18-49, 20.7 million viewers overall) and received the best scores since premiere week in the 9 o’clock hour from “Will & Grace” (8.5/21 in adults 18-49, 16.4 million viewers overall) and “Scrubs” (7.1/17 in adults 18-49, 13.0 million viewers overall).

CBS, second in both 18-49 and 25-54 on the night, was led as usual by “CSI” (9.4/23 in adults 18-49, 26.6 million viewers overall), which again was the night’s most-watched program. From 8 to 9, “Survivor” (7.0/19 in adults 18-49, 19.8 million viewers overall) ran second and was down from recent weeks.

ABC delivered its best Thursday of the season with one-hour spec “The Bachelor: After the Final Rose” (3.2/9 in adults 18-49, 9.2 million viewers overall) and the two-hour Peter Jennings news spec “JFK Assassination” (3.7/9 in adults 18-49, 11.7 million viewers overall).

Fox was not even close on the night, with “Tru Calling” averaging a 1.4/4 in adults 18-49 and 3.8 million viewers overall.